September 4, 2013 In Power of Story By Rachel Gold

Apocalypse as a metaphor for compassion

This morning I woke up cranky and started thinking about apocalyptic stories, particularly the one in Mass Effect 3, and wondering if there's a way in which they allow us to deal with our own sadness for the suffering we can't fix in the world, and therefore open a path for us to become more compassionate. The game starts with Earth under attack from an alien machine race known as the Reapers, who have come to wipe out all sentient, organic life in the galaxy. Massive robots rain down from the sky. Billions are killed. In the midst of my bad mood, that felt comforting. I thought of Commander Shepard in the opening sequence standing in the open door of the Normandy and watching a small fraction of the evacuation, only to see the evacuation shuttles shot down a moment later. She must turn away from the destruction and go look for help for Earth. Here's a short video of it (even if you're not into games, I think you'll find it moving). This scene reminded me of a quote from the Buddhist teacher Chogyam Trungpa: "Hold the sadness and pain of samsara in your heart and at the same time the power and

April 1, 2013 In Uncategorized By Rachel Gold

What is a meditation retreat like anyway?

 A friend asked me about the meditation retreat I just atteneed and I thought that was probably a good topic for a blog. I’d been trying to learn to meditate since I was 15 (and failing!). In 2004 I attended the first Meditating with the Body program with Reggie Ray and actually started to learn to meditate in a way that works for me. It’s different for everyone, but for me having a 6-month program with a meditation instructor to ask questions and weekly assignments, plus a focus on the body (including physically how to sit), really worked. But enough backstory, what actually happens at a meditation retreat? Well, we sit. And then we walk, really slowly, and then we sit again. Sometimes we lie down. The first five-and-a-half days of the program were held in silence. This means there was no talking except when Reggie was teaching and then it was mainly him talking, unless someone got up to ask a question. The silence included evenings and I didn’t even open my computer most evenings. If you had to communicate something, you wrote a note or did your best with pantomime for items like, “Would you pass me a napkin?” Oh and there was functional talking during ROTA (which is a volunteer work

March 8, 2013 In Book News & Events By Rachel Gold

Witches, Werewolves and Starship Captains: Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy

On Friday, March 8 for International Women’s Day, Catherine Lundoff and I hosted a radio program on KFAI. You can hear it here.Since we ran through a whole lot of names and titles during the show, we thought we’d list them on our blogs for anyone who wanted to follow up on our recommendations (or add some of your own in the comments). You can see Catherine’s picks over on her blog. These are roughly in order that we mention them, though not exactly. Rachel Pollack – Unquenchable Fire, Temporary Agency, Godmother Night, and more Robin McKinley – Sunshine (named as an example of an urban fantasy with a vampire rather than paranormal)Louisa May Alcott – She wrote more than Little Women, check out her tales of suspense!Emma Bull – War for the Oaks (wonderful urban fantasy set in Minneapolis)Nnedi Okorafor – Akata Witch (amazing young adult urban fantasy set in Nigeria)Charlaine Harris – The Sookie Stackhouse books on which the HBO show True Blood is basedPatricia Briggs – Check out her Mercy Thompson seriesJacqueline Carey – If you only know her Kushiel books, I also highly recommend her novels Santa Olivia and Saints AstrayKim Harrison – The Hallows seriesTate Hallaway

February 26, 2013 In Book News & Events By Rachel Gold

MarsCon 2013

I'm on four panels for MarsCon March 1-3. If you're planning on attending, I'm looking forward to seeing you there. Below are the panels I'm on and you can see the full program here. Gender Limitations in SF/F Re(a)d Mars/Taylor (2nd Floor) — Friday 06:00 pm Discuss how strong female characters are frequently portrayed as abandoning most, if not all, things feminine. Also, male characters who take on what are considered traditionally female roles are being portrayed as emasculated. Can a powerful female character be warm and nurturing and can a house husband be more than a punch line? With: W. Scott Patterson, mod.; Rachel Gold, Lyda Kimberly Long-Ewing, Lyda Morehouse, Kathryn Sullivan Social Media Marketing for Creatives & Geeks Krushenko’s (13th Floor) — Saturday 01:00 pm Strategies and tips for successfully marketing your geeky creative endeavor or business on various social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and LinkedIn will be discussed. With: Hal Bichel, mod.; Rachel Gold, Christopher Jones, Heather Luca, Catherine Lundoff, David Schwartz Diversity of Character Re(a)d Mars/Taylor (2nd Floor) — Saturday 02:00 pm A lot of the characters in speculative fiction have similar personalities to most fans. Are writers limiting their audience by failing to include characters that express the whole range of diverse human personalities? Who’s good at doing this? What techniques do writers use to design characters unlike themselves? With: Rebecca Chesin, Andre Guirard, co-mods.;

December 23, 2012 In Book News & Events By Rachel Gold

My Next Big Thing

If you’ve been following the “Next Big Thing” blog hop going around author websites, you may have seen my post on the Being Emily site announcing that the sequel is in progress. There’s more exciting news. I recently signed the contract for another book to come out next year – a romantic paranormal novel. The details about the book are below but I also want to add that this book and any others in its series will be out under my pen name “Rachel Calish.” As you can see, I’m not using the pen name to cover my identity, rather it’s to distinguish the two kinds of books that I write. Young adult is a very different genre than romantic paranormal, so I wanted to let readers decide for themselves if they want to read in both genres rather than assuming that someone who loved Being Emily will automatically want to read my paranormal novels. What is the working title of your next book? The Demon Abraxas What genre does your book fall under? Romantic paranormal/urban fantasy What is the synopsis or blurb of your book? Having escaped the poverty and violence of her childhood, Ana thought she didn’t have room for any more inner demons until she met one who knew more about being human than she did. Ana Koury knows there’s more to life

June 26, 2012 In Book News & Events By Rachel Gold

My book is available

My novel became widely available this week! Now I get to put into practice all that book marketing stuff I've been reading the last few years. If you haven't seen it yet, here's the basic info about my novel and where to find it: Being Emily is first young adult novel to tell the story of transsexual girl from her perspective. It’s a story for anyone who has ever felt that their inside and outside don’t match and no one else will understand. You can read an excerpt on the publisher’s site http://blog.bellabooks.com/2012/06/being-emily-by-rachel-gold-now.html. And you can buy the book there or on Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Being-Emily-Rachel-Gold/dp/1594932832 or on Barnes & Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/being-emily-rachel-gold/1104889199. For an eBook you can use in most eReaders, click here: http://www.bellabooks.com/9781594932830e-prod.html.

January 2, 2012 In Uncategorized By Rachel Gold

The Periodic Table Of SEO Ranking Factors

Search engine optimization — SEO — may seem like alchemy to the uninitiated. But there is a science to it. Search engines reward pages with the right combination of ranking factors, or “signals.” SEO is about ensuring your content generates the right type of signals. Our chart below summarizes the major factors to focus on for search engine ranking success. The Search Engine Land Guide To SEO explains factors in more depth, with tips and a tutorial on implementing them. Read on! via searchengineland.com This is one of the absolutely most helpful guides I've seen about SEO. Not only does it remind me of what I need to pay attention to, but it's also a handy way to explain to clients the complexity of SEO. I encourage you to click the title above and visit the Search Engine Land website where you can download your own copy. 

November 23, 2011 In Flourishing in the Margins By Rachel Gold

Happy Thanksgaming!

From the same family that brought you the hit holiday National Day Off for Jews (celebrated Dec. 25), we present: Thanksgaming!  Celebrated annually on the same day as Thanksgiving, this holiday gives gamers everywhere a day to give thanks for our tremendous good fortune in the variety of great games available, the easy accessibility of the “flow” state to us, and the way games bring together diverse people over vast distances. There are two main ways to celebrate this holiday (though of course you’re invited to invent more): 1. Spend the day at home in comfy clothes, eating easy to prepare foods and playing your favorite games. Periodically log in to the social networks of your choice and express heart-felt thanks for these wonderful games and your brilliant achievements in them. Congratulate your friends on their Thanksgaming achievements. 2. Spend the day with family and friends and play games together. Give thanks for the way games bond people, build teamwork, and keep your crazy relatives from fighting (much). Isn’t it time for a holiday that unites gamers without requiring us to leave the comfort of our homes, dorms or apartments? Join us in celebrating Thanksgaming and consciously increasing the amount of happiness in the

August 12, 2011 In Uncategorized By Rachel Gold

Survey Shows Publishing Expanded Since 2008 – NYTimes.com

BookStats, a comprehensive survey conducted by two major trade groups that was released early Tuesday, revealed that in 2010 publishers generated net revenue of $27.9 billion, a 5.6 percent increase over 2008. Publishers sold 2.57 billion books in all formats in 2010, a 4.1 percent increase since 2008. via www.nytimes.com YA fiction is up 6.6% and adult fiction up 8.8%. I like those numbers! And that's post-Harry Potter. Speaking of which, seeing The Deathly Hallows parts 1 & 2 recently really demonstrated to me that ways in which novels can go so deeply into characters, moments and story arcs in a way you just can't get in a movie.